We were all fucking terrified. All three. The chill of fear flooded me completely. Once we were away from the Byers' house, I felt it all leave my body and suddenly felt as weak as ever. I stopped the car and looked back. Nobody ran after us, there was nobody there. Probably only the stench of Jonathan's clothes and the fact that Nancy was still bleeding in her arm reminded me of what had happened. It was like a horror movie. Only it was really happening. I had to cool down, I had to think about it better, but it wasn't easy. Because I might have been the captain of the basketball team, but certainly not the team leader under such circumstances. I thought my reactions were good. I have somehow managed to get them out of a crisis, but what next? What was I going to tell them, what should I do? After all, no words will make Byers in the back seat stop staring out into space with his dead eyes. It was slowly getting darker. And I'm not just talking about the sky turning black above us, but also about the atmosphere. I knew then that the body on the floor belonged to his mother. That the strange monster pressing hard against the glass was his brother. It was his family. Was. Barely a few minutes had passed since they vanished from this area, it must have still not reached him. It was so awful. So horrible in every way possible, but I was sure if Jonathan Byers were to survive, he couldn't go back there. I have no idea what they imagined sitting in there, whether they really wanted to kill what was left of his brother, but it didn't make any sense. I will ask them about it, I will shake them because I wanted to understand what had gone wrong with them, but now we had to have a plan. If it wasn't just here, since this virus had spread so much that they were talking openly about it on the radio, then the situation must have been dramatic. That's why the first thought appeared – to go to my parents. Run away. Together. In three. But Nancy had a family too, so it wasn't surprising to me, that it was she who broke the silence.

"We tried to find Barb," she said in a shaky voice. "And there was such a passage in the tree. Those strange things came out of there. Those faceless monsters." Her hand was trembling. "I think the world is ending, Steve."

These words weren't what I expected. But it kind of shed some light on why they were even planning to do something like this. I thought Byers might just give up hope. Maybe he wanted to die there with them.

"That black thing again," Jonathan suddenly said, "close the window." Nancy didn't wait a moment. She quickly closed it. At first, I didn't know what was going on, so I frowned and looked out. It was hard to see them because it was already dark, but they were there. A little bigger than snowflakes, black dots falling from the sky.

"Are they… disappearing…?" I asked, not quite seeing what was happening to them after touching the car bonnet.

"I don't know, I guess so. Or they dissolve in air," Nancy replied. "There was more, much more in that passage under the tree. It was like… the whole world was covered with it."

"Okay," I said, "it's not like I don't want to hear from you, but we can't stay here. We have to go somewhere and…"

"I know. It's just… My mother went to the hospital with my father because he had such a strange fever since he came back from the company. And now we know that this is how it starts… this." She bit her lip. "We could check to see if they came home, but still…" She shuddered. It was obvious that it was hard for her to talk about it. "And I have no idea where is Mike."

"Will got that fever yesterday." Jonathan was biting his fingernails as he spoke. "And that happened today. So your parents can still-"

"Jon," she interrupted him, "did you hear the announcement on the radio? Where do you think could be the most dangerous place in town? Dying people turn into monsters, and… dying people are taken… to hospital…"

"We can at least drive up there. I have a full tank of gas," I said.

"No, not that way," she said.

"You won't leave them there."

"That's not what I mean, Jon. It's just…" She waved her hands. "We can't just go there right now, we have to get ready for-"

"Time matters here," he interrupted her. Nancy bit her lip. "I… I don't want to talk about what happened in my house right now, but if you don't want to let it happen then… I can go check it out. It's not like I have a lot to lose. It's just drop me close."

"God, don't say that," Nancy swallowed loudly, though deep down she must have felt that Jonathan was kinda right. It sounded so horrible, but I understood him – in his position, I'd rather risk it, too, if that would help Nancy. Dude probably felt hopeless for himself.

"Steve?" She looked at me. At first, I didn't know what was going on, only later did I understand that he was asking me what I thought about it.

"I… I will help you, I will take you wherever you want, but I will not just leave you there."

Yes, I recently called him a rat weirdo, but that didn't mean I wanted to see him do everything when I was in the car.

"What about your parents?" Nancy looked at me again.

"They told me today that they wanted to flee the city because there was an outbreak of some disease in my father's company," I said as I started the car. "They are waiting for me at home. But I will not leave you to go to them. We will all get down to it somehow."

"Okay." She replied. "Okay, okay." Honestly? She didn't seem convinced at all. Byers, on the other hand, looked as if he didn't care. The first time I stared at someone and had no idea what to say, although I really wanted to cheer him up. But no stupid joke would change the fact that with each passing minute it would only get worse for him.

"Any idea where your brother might be? I was at your house before I came here and nobody opened it for me."

"They were here in the morning. He and his friends. My mother didn't let them in because Will…" He broke off, waving his arms. "So they probably went to the Hendersons? They live closest."

Nancy and I both nodded. Jonathan even prompted me where to go, but then we saw three lights in front of the hood of the car. I narrowed my eyes as I slowed down, but Nancy screamed at once:

"Stop! Stop the car!" And as soon as I did, pushing the brakes with all her might, Nancy jumped out onto the street, completely ignoring the black snow falling from the sky. Immediately, three children's bikes passed by, and she screamed after them. "Miiiiike! Miiiiiiike!" but they drove away already, and only the black boy, whose name I didn't know, turned towards her.

"Fuck, they're going to our house!" Jonathan gasped as he watched the scene.

"Nancy, come back! We have to follow them!" His hand instinctively grasped the baseball bat I took with me. I just waited for the girl to be back inside, and then I started moving as fast as I had never before in my life. Turning in such a narrow street was not easy, so I just started backing away, honking like possessed – did it in one breath, completely absorbed in one thought: even if Will didn't break through the glass, the sight of a dead friend moving was the last thing these kids should see. It finally worked, and they pulled over to the side.

"Why didn't he stop when I was screaming?!" Nancy barely opened the slammed door and once more followed her brother out into the street. "Mike?!"

I hesitated. Because on the one hand, I wanted to get off with her, and on the other hand, I didn't feel at all safe here. I thought it wiser to stay inside and be able to move on as soon as possible.

And those strange black petals falling from the sky made me feel strange. While Nancy was talking to the kids, I turned back. Observing them, I asked:

"These black things… why do you avoid them?"

Jonathan rubbed his nose. He was staring at Nancy too.

"We breathed it in the beginning. It makes your throat so damn rough. We blow it out of my nose every ten seconds. Until then, everything inside my mouth is burning." He swallowed hard. "At first it only rained next to that gate in the tree, but now… it must be raining everywhere now? She is kinda right. I think the world is ending." I wanted to deny it. Everyone would like to deny it. Everyone would like to have some arguments to counter the growing fears, but I couldn't find them. Today I saw dead bodies, heard about the death of people, saw the concern in the eyes of my relatives and saw this… thing that made me even more convinced that much more was happening. More than just a tricky imagination. Something more than what you knew from your previous life and school textbooks. "What the hell is taking them so long?"

"I have no idea. Why not go out to them?" I replied. "I'll wait here with my foot on the gas."

Jonathan nodded. He pulled his T-shirt over his nose and went outside, leaving the door a little open. Heard bits of what they were talking about. Byers' arrival there seemed to completely change the course of the conversation. Nancy's younger brother seemed angry, but his colleagues were just terrified. And honestly, looking at the windblown hair and their expressions, I had the feeling that they had been scared before. They were breathing loudly, walking around as if they believed what they were hearing, but refused to accept it. I'd like to hear all of this from the beginning to have some context for why Mike started pushing Byers, but after a while it didn't matter. Because I heard such a characteristic screech, this animal roar torn from the throat of a little boy.